[A2003]

During the middle of the game while playing the hands,
declarer ask questions to the defender regarding
the discarding methods and agreements.
Is it allowed to explain during the middle of playing hands at the time of first or second discards?
Secondly, can the declarer ask the meaning of a defender's bid made while playing the middle of the hands?

[pclayton]

Yes declarer is allowed to ask these kinds of questions.

[Elianna]

I basically agree with what Phil said, except to add that Declarer may not ask for a review of the auction.

I agree that he may ask as to the meaning of a specific bid. Law 20F2 allows this:

Quote

After the final pass and throughout the play period, either defender at his own turn to play may request an explanation of opposing auction.  at his or dummy's turn to play, the declarer may request an explanation of a defender's call or card play convention.

I can't find a law about your signalling question, but I'm sure that it's allowed.

[kfay]

I ask these questions all the time and also ones concerning the bidding which people always seem to think I can't do.

Good question.

[blackshoe]

A signalling convention is a card play convention, and as the last part of the law you quoted says, Elianna, declarer is permitted to ask the defenders about them.

The right of any player (except dummy, who doesn't have it to begin with, once he becomes dummy) to ask for a review of the auction expires when he plays to the first trick (for declarer, when he plays from dummy). Note that you are required to ask for, and sit through, a review of the entire auction. See Law 20C2 and its footnote.

[badderzboy]

You are entitled to know your opponents bidding system, carding etc and in theory access to a Convention card which details this although best of luck in this .

You should rely on memory for the auction only.

If you need to ask about any bid in particular at the end of the auction - ask for a review of all bids so no accusation of any UI to ptr about a particular suit

Yes defender is entitled to the same information - although you MAY not ask to help ptr
Steve

[blackshoe]

badderzboy, on Feb 16 2008, 07:11 PM, said:

If you need to ask about any bid in particular at the end of the auction - ask for a review of all bids so no accusation of any UI to ptr about a particular suit

Not quite. In general, when asking questions about the opponents' auction, during the auction, you should ask for an explanation, not a review, of the entire auction*. You may then ask supplementary questions about particular calls, if necessary (in theory, this should only be necessary if the opponents have not fully disclosed the meaning of the call). During the play, you may again, as a defender, ask for an explanation of the auction. Declarer, because while he can pass UI to his partner, that partner can't do any harm with it, because he's dummy, can ask direct questions about particular calls. This is law 20F.

In practice this law is breached more often than it's honored - and nobody says anything. I suspect it's mostly because they don't know it's a breach - after all, they've seen it done since the day they started playing, so it must be okay, right?

*If a player asks for a review of the auction, that review should not include explanations, because he didn't ask for that. And vice versa. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, if I ask for an explanation of opponents' auction, I get a blank look, followed by a review. This is wrong, people!